


Once Upon a Crush

by unsernameinuse



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, background danny/ethan, implied scott/stiles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-01-01 06:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1041726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unsernameinuse/pseuds/unsernameinuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles Stilinski and Danny Mahealani fly in two separate orbits, but for some reason they keep finding ways to collide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Once upon a crush, a long time ago...

Before bites and scales and sports and girls, the alliances now solidified in Beacon Hills had yet to be formed. Allison Argent was somewhere else entirely, in the middle of yet another move. Scott and Stiles were both still raw from sorrow. Lydia Martin still had both her parents in one house and an older sister she adored. Jackson Whittemore had yet to be tamed by Danny Mahealani and spent most of his time making a fool out of himself in front of her.

Speaking of Danny, he didn’t have abs or popularity yet. He was amiable with everyone but didn’t have any close friends. He spent most of his time inside on the computer, which was how the whole mess got started.

It was the beginning of the summer, two days after Danny’s thirteenth birthday when his mother got ‘The Call’. Danny was playing video games and didn’t really pay much attention. Not until his mother came and stood in front of the tv.

“Daniel, sweetheart,” she said. “Is there something you’d like to tell me?”

The next few minutes were a blur in Danny’s memory. She asked him what he’d been thinking, and what did he mean he’d just been ‘playing around’ to ‘see what would happen’ and didn’t he know _you can’t mess with people’s privacy like that?_ His father stepped in to continue the lecture while his mother called a lawyer.

Mr. Whittemore happened to be the best not only in town, but the best for five cities over in any direction.

That was how Danny met Jackson.

He’d been trying very hard not to think about life in juvie while his mom talked to the lawyer when a thick-eyebrowed, freckle-faced, blue eyed boy flopped down into the seat beside him.

“Hey,” the boy said. “you’re the hacker kid right? I’m Jackson. My dad’s your lawyer.”

“Um. Hey.”

“Don’t freak out about it, my dad can get anybody out of anything. Wanna come outside and play lacrosse?”

Somehow, Jackson’s confidence was contagious. Danny left his worries in the office and went outside with Jackson, where they discovered he wasn’t half bad at the game. When his mother finally walked out, shaking hands with Mr. Whittemore, Danny was sweaty and smiling. Jackson invited him over to play some more, Danny’s mom said yes, and a legendary friendship began.

 

The first time Danny went to Jackson’s, he saw a curly haired boy sitting outside of the house across the street, reading.

“Who’s that?” he asked Jackson. “he’s kind of cute.”

“Ugh,” Jackson said. “First of all, he’s not half as cute as me. Second of all, you don’t want to get involved with him.”

Danny sat down on the Whittemore’s pristine concrete steps and his new friend followed. “Why not?” he asked.

“His mom died and the whole family went crazy. You could hear his dad yelling at his older brother all the time, then the brother got out and now the dad beats the shit out of that kid.”

“What?” Danny turned to him with wide eyes, but Jackson seemed unaffected. “Don’t joke like that.”

“I’m just saying, find a new crush. Oooooooh, hey, what about me? Do you have a crush on me?”

“Jackson,” Danny rolled his eyes. “we met a week ago and you’ve asked me that at least once a day. I already told you, I’m not into you like that.”

“Yeah, well. You should be, everybody else is.”

“Yeah, except Lydia.”

“Whatever. So,” Jackson turned so he could lay back on the grass with his feet still on the steps with Danny. “if you’re not into me who are you into?”

“No one.”

“That’s such a fucking lie, everybody’s into somebody, at least a little bit. Like me, I wouldn’t say I have a _crush_ on Lydia, okay, but--” he went on to ramble about Lydia and every interaction he’d had with her since Danny had last seen him. Danny took one last glance at the quiet kid across the street but decided Jackson must be joking, the boy looked totally normal, and listened to Jackson ramble.

 

“Hey. Pssst! Hey, Danny.” Danny froze midway through the act of returning a library book to it’s shelf. Shit.

Danny’s life was never really intersected with theirs, but he knew who Scott and Stiles were. They were a funny looking duo. Scott was a clumsy and bookish and sweet, combined with Stiles’ loud bravado and sarcasm that anyone with common sense could see through. He knew that both of them only had one parent, and somehow both got straight As despite the fact that they were constantly distracting him in class with their whispering.

Neither of the boys were popular, but where you found trouble, you find Stiles, and where you find Stiles, you found Scott. In Beacon Hills that was enough to give a kid a reputation. Danny was trying to get away from his reputation ever since the hacking accident, so he avoided trouble of any kind. Which meant that, as a general rule, he avoided Stiles.

He turned around slowly. “Hi Stiles.” he said politely. “do you need help finding a book?”

“Not exactly,” Stiles said. “You work here, right?”

“I volunteer, yeah.” he decided he’d get through this easier if he couldn’t see Stiles puppy eyes so he turned back around and continued shelving.

“Well, look, the head librarian hates me, okay. There’s this book that I need, like, really badly, for research. He says he can’t get it but I know for a fact you can order it from another library. But only librarians are allowed access to the book requests...”

Danny sighed. He kept his eyes on the books as he said, “No.”

He could practically hear Stiles making one of his ridiculous facial expressions. “What? dude, why not?”

“I said no.” Danny finished with the pile for that particular shelf and started to wheel his cart in another direction. He rolled his eyes when he heard Stiles following him.

“Just give me a reason.” Stiles said.

Danny parked again, this time in front of the non-fiction section. “I need the volunteer hours and I’m not getting fired for a guy who’s barely ever spoken to me.”

“Whoa whoa whoa. We talk all the time!”

“Hissing at me to share my notes because you haven’t been paying attention isn’t talking. Anyway, I’m not doing it. Google it or something, buy it on Amazon.”

Danny heard Stiles walk away but didn’t move his eyes from his task. He felt a little guilty, but mostly for implying that he and Stiles weren’t friends. They weren’t , but he didn’t have anything against Stiles. He was kind of funny, actually. A little bit cute, with all his moles and his big eyes and the way he was so enthusiastic about things...not that Danny was going there. Ever.

“SHIT!” he heard from a few rows away.

“Shhh!” from the front desk. He sighed one more time, then went looking for Stiles.

 

“So,” Stiles said.They were crouched in one of the study rooms with an ancient Beacon Hills Library computer, waiting for internet explorer to load. Danny longed to take an afternoon just fixing the library computers, but since he couldn’t he avoided them as much as possible. They made him itch. “...are you dating Jackson?”

“What?”

“Just wondering.”

“Why would you think that?”

“You guys are always hanging out...and stuff...”

“You and Scott are always hanging out.” Danny challenged mildly. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Stiles blush a little. Interesting.

“...you’ve got a point.” Stiles said, clearly wishing he’d never brought it up.

“Anyway, Jackson’s my best friend but he’s not my type.”

“He’s not? I thought he was everybody’s type.”

“Not mine.” Danny said calmly.

“Oh. So you’re not dating anyone?”

“Nope.” Stiles seemed to get the hint after that. They got quiet and inwardly willed the computer to go faster.

After a while, Danny finally got to the page he needed and asked, “What is it you want me to order?” Stiles was silent.“Stiles?”

“Um,” Stiles said. “could you try your absolute best not to laugh? please?”

“Okay.” Danny folded his arms and waited. Stiles leaned over in front of him to type. Danny stared at the back of his head, trying not to inhale the scent of his fabric softener. Danny had a whole thing about the way guys smelled and if Stiles happened to smell really good...well. His hormones didn’t always listen when he decided not to crush on someone. Even if they were obnoxious and cute with shaved heads.

Stiles pulled back and stared straight ahead as Danny read what he’d typed. “How to Seduce an Independent Woman.” He read out loud. He gave Stiles a sideways glance. “Really? This is what you were so desperate about?”

“If you say I should just ask her out I’m gonna lose it, okay? Man, I swear, that’s the stupidest thing to tell someone,” Stiles huffed. “Like...if you don’t know someone very well, how are you supposed to just ask them out? You don’t know what they’d want to do or how they’d like to be asked. It’s nerve wrecking!”

“So then try and get to know her.”

“First of all, this particular person is surrounded by an impenetrable force of popularity. Secondly, that’s what dates are for. Thirdly, if this person can even find it in them to stand my presence, I don’t want them to think of me as a friend before I can make a move. Which is why I need this book.”

“Wow.” Danny decided against saying anything sarcastic. He’d had hopeless crushes himself, after all. “Who is she?”

Stiles looked down at the table. He fiddled with the string of his hoodie, then his zipper, coughed and drummed his fingers on the table. Danny waited.

“Lydia Martin.” he muttered. Danny heard him just fine. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He tried really hard not to judge but- “Lydia? Stiles.”

“I know, I know, okay? Way out of my league, way too smart, way too pretty. I know.”

“That...wasn’t what I was going to say. It’s just,” he tried to gentle his tone as much as possible. “she’s not going to go for you but it’s not because she’s too pretty or too smart. She just has a certain type.”

“I thought maybe since she hasn’t gone out with Jackson yet...”

“I know Lydia, Stiles. I’m part of the “impenetrable wall”. She’s waiting to see if he fits into her plan. He might, you probably won’t. If you know she’s smart, then you know that’s just how she is.” Danny paused. Stiles kept staring down at the table. “How do you know she’s smart, anyway?”

Stiles shrugged. “I observe.”

“Fair enough. Do you still want me to order that book?”

“Duh. I’m not going to give up just cause you say to, man. I’ve got to try.”

They were silent as Danny placed the order. “Just remember to come and get it as soon as it comes in. The other librarians order books to read for themselves all the time but if it just sits up here they’re going to start wondering whose it is. And return it in time too.”

“Yeah. Got it. Thanks.”

Stiles left with a little bit of a stoop to his shoulders and it made Danny feel bad. Sure, he’d been truthful but maybe he could have had a little more tact. He went back to stacking books. On his way out at the end of the day, the head librarian asked him to have his dates on his own time and not in the study rooms. Danny left with his face burning. That guy really was a dick.

He went home and called the Stilinski’s. “Hey, Stiles? It’s Danny. I’m sorry about what I said earlier today.” He took a deep breathe, already knowing it was a bad idea. “I thought maybe I could help you.”

 

“Okay, so Stiles,” Danny said randomly one day in July. He and Jackson were playing basketball at the park because Jackson insisted they get in shape to try out for all the teams once they got to high school. Danny had always meant to start getting healthy so he didn’t mind.

“What?” Jackson took a sip of his water while squinting at his friend.

“You know how you ask me who I like basically every day?”

“Um, yeah?”

“and I say no one.”

“A lie.”

“It wasn’t! But I’m thinking...”

“Why? Who? where!” Danny let Jackson spin around a few times like an over excited puppy before he grabbed him by the shoulders and pointed.

“That guy, the one waving his hands and talking loud by the bleachers.”

“Eeeeeeew, Stilinski and his nerdy friend?”

“Yeah, Stiles.”

“Stiles. Like, Stiles Stilinski? Is that even a real name?”

“He started hanging around at the library lately. He’s funny and cute, stop looking at me like that.”

“Well, I think he looks disgusting. He’s like a loud, floppy scarecrow. I need to get you a boyfriend.”

“That’s what we’re talking about, isn’t it?”

“It’s like you’re not even listening. Stilinski isn’t a boy, he’s a mutant. trust me, I’ll get you someone better.” Danny glanced back at Stiles one more time. He didn’t like following the crowd all the time, but sometimes it was necessary. He got the feeling now was one of those times.

 

For a while, Jackson seemed to have forgotten about it. They spent their last year of middle school solidifying their friendship and practicing for lacrosse. Danny’s stomach started to get some definition. He spent little to no time hacking anyone or anything, instead making straight As in school. All his casual acquaintances started to seem more like friends. He felt settled.

Stiles continued to hang out at the library. He and Danny spent most of the time bantering, long after Stiles turned the book back in and Danny ran out of Lydia-related advice. They both thought about kissing sometimes, but never while they were together, and neither of them suspected it of the other. It was nice.

Then one day Stiles tripped in front of the whole cafeteria...and then the whole school during assembly...and then in front of his history class giving a presentation. Everyone laughed and no one knew that it had been the anniversary of his mother’s death the day before or that Stiles hadn’t slept. Little floppy haired, asthmatic Scott sat by his side all day and glared fiercely at anyone who so much as snickered in their direction.

That was the same day Lydia said yes to Jackson.

Stiles stopped coming by the library. Danny didn’t ask why.

The alliances teetered in the balance for a while, but eventually they fell into place. Jackson, Danny, and Lydia: the royal court. Stiles and Scott: partners in crime. Erica, Isaac, and Boyd: loners without anyone to sit with at lunch. The school year passed, middle school ended, and the pieces began to fall into place.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> again, constructive crit welcomed.

The first semester of freshman year Lydia threw one of her (soon to be legendary) parties, and somehow got people from every grade to come. the night was her cementing as queen of the school, as the previous Queen Bee had just graduated. Towards the end of the party Jackson grabbed Danny by the shoulders and steered him towards a group of tall, broad shouldered guys.

“Danny, these are my friends from the modeling agency. Guys, this is Danny.”

One of Jackson’s model friends was a gorgeous upperclassman with a dazzling smile. He was tall, muscular, charming, had piercings, and found Danny attractive. It was hormone-fueled infatuation at first sight. Jackson left them alone together with a know-it-all smirk.

Later that night, back in Jackson’s bedroom, he asked, “Soooo, how’d your night go?”

Danny smiled at the ceiling. “It was fine.”

“Don’t give me that shit, what happened!”

“Nothing...except I have a boyfriend now.”

“YES!” Jackson stood up on his knees in the middle of the bed and threw his hands up like he’d made a goal. “SCORE FOR WHITTEMORE. I fucking knew you’d love him. As soon as I saw him, I knew it.”

Danny buried his face in a pillow. “Shut up.”

“Not until you apologize for lying.”

“Excuse me?”

Jackson folded his arms. “You said I’m not your type, but your new boyfriend is basically me but older with piercings. So, apologize.”

“Jackson, he is nothing like you and you are not my type.”

“Apology accepted.”

“I hate you.”

 

A few days later in the locker room, Danny seemingly randomly said, “Stiles.”

Jackson stopped mid-sentence. “I thought we agreed you were never going to mention his name in front of me again.”

“Can you take the diva down a few notches for once?” Danny rolled his eyes. “I mean Stiles proves you’re not my type. I’ve been attracted to him, and you two are nothing alike.”

“He’s the exception.”

“Au contraire, I’ve only really liked three guys so far, one is my boyfriend, one is Stiles, and the other is some eighth grader I was into when I was eleven. The eighth grader was computer club president, so a dork and kind of like Stiles. That makes it three to one, Stiles is not the exception, he’s the rule.”

Jackson shook his head. “It’s sad how far you’ll go to deny your attraction to me.” Danny was only barely sure he was joking.

 

So, life at Beacon Hills High went on as usual...until sophomore year. Without any kind of warning, Stiles and Scott went from being two smart kids in the hall to being on everyone’s radar. Stiles more by association with the suddenly very talented Scott, but it counted. They were both hopping up the ladder of Beacon Hills High hierarchy.

It’s not as if anyone, in a million years, could have beat Jackson Whittemore for popularity-it was the eyes, Danny thought, not to mention the talent, the money, and the charm when he thought you were worth it. He barely thought anyone was worth it though. In most cases, threats were much more his style. Next to that, Scott had a certain appeal with his non-threatening demeanor and earnest smile.

Then came the winter dance, when Scott dragged him onto the dance floor and put arms around his neck. Danny looked around for his boyfriend, praying he wasn’t watching, because he thought dances were stupid but also didn’t want Danny to dance with anyone else, hence Danny sitting on the sidelines all night. If it hadn’t been for that-and the fact that Scott was on-and-off sort-of dating Lydia’s new friend-he might have enjoyed dancing with Scott. He smelled nice.

Short story shorter, he got dumped.

He was bitter for a while but in the end couldn’t really bring himself to be too angry at Scott. The guy was just too fucking adorable. That smile...no. No, no, no.

Even after that one time that Scott appeared out of nowhere, pushed him into an into room and up against a wall, and kissed him like it was the end of the world or something. Danny responded in kind, only to feel completely embarrassed the next day when Scott sheepishly apologized. He decided that there was no worse feeling on the planet than someone apologizing for kissing you, _none_. Then coach kept trying to hook them up too, which completely killed any possibility of future attraction.

Scott drooled over Allison and Danny got over himself.

Scott's weirdly magnetic personality aside, there was also Stiles to deal with. Once brought into the popular orbit, Stiles started thinking he could _talk_ to Danny. He didn’t do it often, but when he did it was some strange demand or weirdly sexual or both. The whole thing with his ‘cousin’-yeah right, like anyone related to Stilinski could look like that-had felt oddly like some aborted threesome proposition. He kept asking if he was attractive to gay guys in this weirdly earnest way like he wasn’t even trying to be annoying. Danny steadily refused to answer the question, or even think about it really. Those and a million other tiny details, like overhearing Stiles ask Scott if he wanted to make out and seeing Scott’s answering smile, made him think of Stiles a little differently.

 

Was it just him, or had shit in Beacon Hills gotten weird? People missed school for weird reasons and serial killers kept popping up to the point that Danny’s mother bought a gun. Scott and Stiles spent all their class time not-whispering about things that freaked Danny out and that he couldn’t help thinking about.

He’d almost died in a club for still unexplained reasons, a cute guy had flirted with him a little and then turned out to be one of the previously mentioned serial killers. He’d been _thisclos_ e to actually asking Matt out and therefore being a potential corpse.

Jackson got sketchy and cryptic, almost died, and then left for London. He called and texted and skyped but it wasn’t the same. Danny wasn’t a part of his new life and Jackson refused to give him any real details about why he left.

“Do you want me to lie to you?” he'd snapped once. And Danny really, really didn’t want him to. So he dropped the subject. He thought about digging for information on his own, but then he looked around at his town and got a sick feeling in his stomach that told him he probably didn’t want to know.

Danny chose to blind himself to whatever was happening because he wasn’t sure he could handle it if he knew the truth.

He also chose to blind himself to the fact that Stiles had grown his hair out again and he looked really fucking good. Shit. _Really_  good. Nope, nope, refusing to notice. The fact that Stiles involvement in all the weird stuff had gotten the Sheriff fired and the steady way Stiles loud, bright, insecure personality had turned sharp and jagged lately made Danny think twice. If there was a section in the yearbook for Most Likely to Snap and Go on a Killing Spree Next he would vote for Stiles Stilinski, hands down.

Scott even seemed different, more serious. It wasn’t exactly bad, but it was unexpected. Scott’s popularity had dropped off after a while as he and his friends got weirder and weirder, but that didn’t mean he had to go around looking like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

Ethan, the cute new guy that liked him, was the only thing that made him feel balanced anymore, and that worried him. He barely knew Ethan, after all. But it felt nice.

Of course Stilinski had to go fuck it up.

“Danny, can I talk to you a sec?”

“No.”

“Too bad.” in a display of the shiny new aggressive side of his personality Stiles grabbed his arm and yanked him into an empty classroom whereas last year he would have just continued to walk beside Danny and have his chatter ignored. “Look,” Stiles said after he closed the door. “I just want you to be careful, okay?”

“Careful?” Danny said, incredulous. Like he didn’t walk on eggshells every single day in this fucking landmine of a town?

“Yeah, with Ethan. Listen, I know this doesn’t make any sense and he seems like a great guy, but remember how I didn’t like Matt and he turned out to be a serial killer?”

Danny was stonily silent. He’d built a safe place for himself and he didn’t like the way Stiles was barging in and kicking at it.

Stiles rolled his eyes at Danny’s facial expression. “I just want you to know, I’ve got a bit of a feeling about Ethan too. Be careful.” He walked out before Danny could tell him to go fuck himself.

Danny glared at the back of Stiles head for the rest of the day, because he’d jumped when Ethan hugged him from behind and found himself looking for signs of him being a serial murderer.

"Babe, are you okay?" Ethan had asked.

"Fine." Danny gritted out, searching the halls for Stiles so he could kill him. Ethan was great and Danny would never be thinking about him this way if it wasn’t for Stiles fucking Stilinski.

Stiles, his brain served up as a friendly reminder every once in awhile, had gotten really, really hot. He had gorgeous eyes that were bright and laughing one second and stone cold the next. His lips paraded around in Danny’s head sometimes like they belonged there and he had a hard time not watching the way Stiles touched things. He was still the exact definition of Danny’s fabled 'type', but even more fatally attractive. Put Ethan and Stiles in front of him with personalities taken out of the decision and Stiles might have stood a fighting chance.

Ethan, of course, would still win, because he wasn’t a jackass. Plus, he cared about Danny and looked at him like he was worth just about anything. Danny had permission to trace Ethan’s body with his tongue, kiss his lips and feel his hands anywhere he wanted. There wasn’t anyone on earth who could have competed with that for him.

But he couldn’t ignore some things.

The next week he pulled Stiles aside in the hall. "Okay, what you said about being careful, does that mean you think Ethan has something to do with everything that's been going on?" He didn't say lately, because while there'd been about a four month break from all the insanity and then it had come back with a vengeance as if to make up for it's absence.

Stiles looked him in the eye and said “Don’t worry about it. Just keep yourself safe.” As if every single person in Beacon Hills didn’t worry about every moment of every day. Stiles would know that if he wasn’t so busy gallivanting around with Scott doing God only knew what.

His family was safe and Ethan was amazing. He should stop thinking about how maybe he saw Isaac’s eyes glow gold once, and he should definitely stop thinking about how Stiles mouth moved when he talked.

He almost died again and found out why Scott walked around like a secret superhero: because he was raised by one. Melissa McCall saved his life and Ethan said _I love you_ the very same night. Danny said it back because he'd recently been reminded how short life could be.

The next day he had a very strange dream about Stiles. Not his usual Stiles dream either, where he was naked and talking at top speed about werewolves and alphas and Danny silenced his babbling with a kiss and then…

Well.

The point was, a paper he had worked really fucking hard on was gone the next morning. No matter what Stiles said, Danny could feel himself getting more and more drawn to the center of the Beacon Hills hurricane. And now Stiles was blatantly involving him in it! Or maybe he was just stealing homework, but Danny seriously doubted it.

He had to find out what was going on. If he didn't, it was going to find him first.


	3. Chapter 3

After Danny got out of the hospital and convinced his mother that he was totally fine and could go to school, he didn’t go to school.

He went to the school parking lot and waited in his car until Scott and Stiles inevitably decided to ditch classes in the middle of the day. Then he followed them, to find out what the fuck they were up to once and for all. Stiles seemed to totally disregard all laws about speed and signals which made it hard to follow them without raising suspicions. Then again, he could nearly feel Stiles’ eyes on him, even from three cars back. But he wasn’t there to posture about stealth, he was there for answers. He trailed them to the next city, a place just a bit larger than Beacon Hills with tall buildings and a small university. Scott and Stiles pulled up in front of an apartment building downtown, parked neatly on the curb and ran into the building.

He groaned to himself when he noticed the Argent's car on the same street. If he had skipped his honors classes with no explanation for nothing more than some clandestine lunch date between the troublemaker trio he was going to be furious. With his self, of course, but mostly with Stiles Stilinski. He started this with his paper-stealing and shady implications, not to mention insufferable personality and good looks.

"Fucking Stilinski," he said to himself, shoving the car door open. He ran up the steps only a beat behind Scott and Stiles but when he walked inside the foyer was empty, even the information desk. “Shit.” He stood completely still, listening. As long as Stiles was involved, he would probably be able to hear them in a minute.

It took less than a minute. To his right he heard a loud crash, like someone had fallen (probably Stiles) and a loudly exclaimed “FUCK!” (also Stiles, probably). He took off after the sound, adrenaline pumping through him. An elevator was around the corner, tucked away from public view. He ran up and watched for the floor they got off on, before jumping in himself. He didn’t really have a plan now that he thought about it, he just wanted to corner them in the middle of whatever suspicious thing they were doing this time and confront them about the whole shady business. It was probably nothing, he tried to tell himself, he was freaked out for nothing and Stiles just liked to give creepy cryptic warnings to fuck with people. Everything would be fine. He would tell them to stop and fuck off and it would be fine.

He thought that all the way up. He thought that until he heard a sound like bone shattering wood, then like claws shredding skin, and lastly, an unmistakable roar.

He reached the landing, heart thudding like a bass drum, and watched as the doors opened slowly, revealing a loft filled with steel, concrete, and what looked like the fight of the century. Two tall, impossibly fit men were battling each other in the middle of the floor. Stiles and Scott stood in the entryway with Danny right behind, watching as Derek Hale lifted himself out of the wreck of a piece of wooden furniture and let out a roar. It was then that Danny realized, with horror and disbelief, that Derek’s face was deformed, covered in hair. His eyes were flashing blue, his ears had grown pointed, and his teeth were sharp as knives made of bone. The man he was fighting was similarly deformed and impossibly tall and wide, like two people instead of one. He gave an answering roar and advanced. Derek stood firm but his stance weakened.

Before Danny could even process it, Scott was gone from in front of him and entering the fray. His eyes were suddenly flashing red, his teeth, ears, and hair had turned to match Derek’s seemingly in the space of a moment. The transformation made Danny feel a little lightheaded, not sure he wasn’t hallucinating. He fell against the doorway with a thud as the sickening sounds of bones and claws meeting in midair continued.

“You shouldn’t have come,” Stiles said softly from his shoulder. There was a badly hidden _I told you so_ in his tone which was bullshit because no, he fucking had not.

“Shut up, Stiles.” he snapped.

“You took the words from my mouth.” said a man that had appeared from the shadows all of a sudden. Stiles stiffened beside Danny, drawing closer to him and putting a hand on his arm. He was strangely silent in the wake of the stranger’s comment. “Boys,” the man said softly.   
“I think we’ve proven our point.”

The fights stopped immediately. The mountain-sized man froze right as he was about to strike. Derek and Scott looked wary but didn’t move. Slowly, the man melted into two. Ethan and Aiden. Danny’s boyfriend and his twin brother. Ethan opened his mouth , already looking sick. All Danny could do was stare.

“Danny, I-”

“Ah,” the blind man interrupted. “So this is the infamous Danny? Everyone’s favorite human. No offense to Stiles, of course.” Ethan seemed to choke on his words. Stiles grip got tighter. Danny couldn’t stop staring at the man’s sunglasses. He felt like maybe two Hell-black holes should be behind them. After a long silence where Danny didn’t feel his input was needed, the man continued. “Ethan had something he wanted to tell you, I believe. Didn’t you?”

The twins walked closer with Derek and Scott just behind, sill transformed into nightmare figures. Ethan didn’t look at Danny as he took his place by the man’s side and said, “It’s over. You’re not what we were looking for.” Then the little trio turned and walked away. Danny felt as if maybe the entire hallway was spinning. His arm felt a little numb where Stiles was gripping it. He’d just been dumped. And also, no one really needed to point it out, but werewolves were real. Werewolves were real and some of them were kids that went to his school. One of them was someone he had slept with. He felt sick.

“Stiles,” Derek said in a low, commanding voice. “I think you need to get your friend home.”

Danny inwardly agreed, right before he passed out.

 

 

Danny waited until he was home to yell, which Stiles appreciated. It meant the wolves didn’t have to hear it unless they wanted to.

“ I should have known. Fuck, you guys talk about crazy shit all the time and you don’t even bother to hide it. I guess I just thought you guys were into some kind of really intense fantasy gaming. I should have fucking known.” Danny was pacing around his bedroom, fully recovered from his shock and moving straight to molten lava level fury.

“Danny-”

"I don't want to hear it. I know you and Scott have saved my life before, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t endangered it too. And you’ve lied to me, to my face! I could maybe understand if I was some stranger, if I was just some random guy but _you knew_ about Ethan, you knew I was a _fucking_ a _werewolf_  . Not only that , but a werewolf with bright red eyes and creepy morph powers. And all you did was give me some cryptic fucking warning in a coat closet. Oh my God, fuck you, Stiles!”

When Stiles didn’t speak Danny turned around to make sure he was still there. He was, slouched over on the edge of Danny’s bed. He looked small for the first time since ninth grade.

“I am so so sorry,” Stiles said softly. “We-I never wanted to see you get hurt in all of this. We don’t want anybody else's life to get fucked up over this mess. We were just trying to fix it.”

Danny covered his eyes and took a deep, shaking breath. The warmth and darkness behind his eyes was comforting for a moment, but then Ethan and Aiden’s murderous merged form was there with him, slashing at his peace. “Stiles,” he said. “please leave.”

He stood there like that until he heard the door click shut and then he fell into bed. He wasn’t as mad at Stiles as he had been. He was mostly mad at himself, for taking too long to realize there was real danger and trying to do something about it. Really, he still hadn’t done anything about it. He didn’t move again until his mother came home demanding to know why he had skipped school in the middle of the day, stopping mid-rant when she saw how red his eyes were.

“Honey, what happened?” she asked.  She sat beside him and ran her fingers through his hair. What happened? Everything had happened. Werewolves were real. His entire view on the world had been turned upside down in one afternoon, and there was absolutely no way he could tell her that.

He grasped for a straw she would believe in and found the truth “I got dumped. Again.”

“Oh sweetie.” she made a lot of clucking noises because she knew there wasn’t a lot of advice she could give. She called his teachers to say he’d been sick. Then she handed him his cell phone and said “If you won’t talk to me, at least call Jackson.”

She left and he stared at the phone, blinking away tears. He took a deep breath, hit speed dial one, and waited.

“Hello?” Jackson’s voice had a slight British edge to it now, he was probably trying to sound cool.

Danny took a deep breath. “I know about werewolves.” he said. It seemed as good a place to start as any.

 

 

Danny went out with his human friends on Friday night and on Monday morning he established radio silence between himself and all members of the Beacon Hills supernatural community. Except for Lydia, because he wasn’t stupid.

“I understand how you feel,” she told him “I was upset when I found out too. But I found out because I was involved and my life was in danger. Sure, you were dating a werewolf but Scott would snap his neck before he let you get hurt. We were only trying to protect you.”

His response was a neutral “Hm.” and she let it go at that.

 

 

“You know,” his mother said a few days later “I don’t know if this boy Stiles is the one who dumped you but he seems very sincere about wanting you back. Maybe you should call him.”

“Mom," there were so many things wrong with that. Stiles? boyfriend? Stiles? calling? Stiles? Forgiveness? "I'm sorry but no.” she didn’t bring it up again.

Stiles didn’t stop trying to get his attention in class and Scott didn’t stop giving him puppy dog eyes and Lydia didn’t stop nudging him toward understanding.

But besides all of that, everything was normal. Good, even. He talked to Jackson as much as he could afford to, he met some cute new guys from a few towns over and went out with them on the weekends.

Everything was just fine until the Tuesday  night he got a text from one of the boys he’s just met, Johnathan, that said _meet us at the warehouse in 30_. No winky faces or exclamation points, which was unusual for Jonathan. Still, he always has fun with them and he was done with all his homework so he went.

When he pulled up to the back entrance to their favorite club, The Warehouse, twenty-eight minutes later there were no other cars outside. Maybe the club was closed for some reason, but he’d assumed the other guys would at least be there before him. The usually bright street lights were dim and flickering. He got a chill and an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, but he refused to acknowledge them. He was sick of being afraid.

 _I’m here._ he texted Jonathan.

He got a reply barely a minute later that said _Come inside._

Okay. Weird. But Jonathan, Andy, Chrys, Harry, and the others were all fun human guys that loved a good party. This was weird, but not werewolf weird. At the very worst this was some silly prank. So he got out of his car and headed for the door. Just as he was stepping over the threshold he heard another car approaching. He looked back and saw Stiles jeep swerve into the parking lot at top speed.

"What the hell?"

Stiles slammed on the breaks and Scott leap out ahead of him, racing for the door.

When they opened it, Danny was already out of sight.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...so...this is short because I am terrible and abandoned this for like a year. There's maybe two or three chapters left?

“Let him go.” 

Danny woke to the sound of Scott’s voice with a throbbing head and no idea where he was. All he knew was that he was sitting in a dimly lit room, tied to a chair (not very gently) with his hands behind his back, and everything ached.

“Don’t try to pull that alpha shit with me, McCall. I just want to have a little talk with him, and then Danny is free to go if he’d like.”

That voice...he recognized it from somewhere. When Danny opened his eyes fully he was looking at a stand-off. A tall woman clad in all black was planted defensively in front of a red-eyed Scott McCall. Stiles and Derek flanked him, muscles tense.

“What-” Danny started.

“Ssh!” came a voice from behind him. No one in the stand off seemed to notice as they began arguing about packs and territory. “It’s Allison,” the voice said. “We’re going to get you out of this. Just be still.”

“Oh please,” the woman in black said suddenly, louder than the conversation the had been having. She turned and Danny saw his English teacher in front of him, blue eyes and sweet smile twisted into the face of someone else entirely. “Allison, do you really think you can fool me?” Ms. Blake flicked her hand and Danny felt a rush of air over his head as a tall, athletic girl went sailing through the air. She landed sprawled on the concrete floor in front of Scott, but in the time it took Danny to think  _ That must have hurt,  _ she was standing up and pointing a bow and arrow at his captor.

“You heard the alpha,” Allison said, her voice sugar sweet and stone cold, “you’re out of bounds and breaking your agreement. Give Danny back to us  _ now  _ and I won’t take your eyes out.”

Ms. Blake all but rolled her eyes. “You’re being a little a dramatic”

“Danny is defenseless. That makes me his protector by the word of my code. Now let him go.”

Ms. Blake tossed her head and focused her creepy eyes on Danny. Suddenly his chair was scraping across the floor so fast he barely had time to process it before he was sitting in front of her and everything ached even more. With a flick of her fingers his wrists were a little less constricted..

“I’m not going to hurt you Danny,” she said. She sounded completely sincere and if she hadn’t just lured him to an abandoned warehouse he might have believed her. “I just need a little bit of your help.”

“Jennifer” Scott snarled like a warning.

“I’m going to tell Danny what I want and then he can decide, I promise.” Ms. Blake said. And then she very deliberately turned her back to Scott’s red eyes and Allison’s arrows as if they were no more a threat than a group of yipping puppies. Danny wasn’t so sure.

“Danny,” Jennifer said, leaning onto the arms of his chair to be at eye level with him.  _ Do you know that you’re psychic? _

“Excuse me?” he responded before he realized that she hadn’t said that last part out loud.

She smirked. 

_ See. You’re a natural. You’ve been seeing things other people can’t since you were a child.  _

“There are plenty of other people already involved in this bullshit without dragging me into it.” Danny said tightly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Stiles’ stiffen, and Scott’s hand come up to rest on his shoulder.

“There aren’t that many.” she said out loud.  _ Stiles could work, but he’s a loyal son of a bitch, and Lydia just...doesn’t have the right kind of magic. _

“Magic?” of course, Danny had seen enough in the last few weeks to be certain that there was a realm beyond everyday reality, but he wasn’t quite ready to make the leap to magic.

“Yes, magic.”

“Danny doesn’t have magic,” Lydia said in a clipped tone. “He doesn’t match any description in the bestiary.”

“And that would be because he’s not a beast.” Jennifer snapped without looking up. Allison's fingers tightened deliberately on her weapon.

“It’s Danny’s decision,” Stiles said softly. “he can decide what he is.”

“Danny’s right here.” Danny said. He could feel his hands starting to tremble where they were still tied around his back. “I don’t want anything to do with this, I don’t want to help any of you. Let me go.”

Jennifer stood back, eyeing him up and down. “I’ll see you at school then.” she said pleasantly. She waved her hand and the ropes disappeared. Danny realized that there had never really been any ropes at all, his muscles had been locked into painful positions under Jennifer’s powers.

He wanted to tell her to go fuck herself, or at least that she definitely wouldn’t see him at school because for the first time in his life he purposefully wasn’t going to class. But he didn’t trust himself to speak. Or to stand.

“Stiles.” he said. Without a word, his friend helped him stand and walk slowly out of the warehouse, the rest of the pack behind them.

 


	5. 5

“Yeah, mom, I’m fine. I just don’t think I should drive right now so I’m going to stay over at Stiles’ house. Okay. I love you too, night.”

Danny put down his phone and sank back down onto the Stilinski's couch. That had taken about all the strength he had. 

Once they got to Stiles’ house Scott had wrapped him in three blankets, Lydia had started making tea, and Allison and Derek had stood guard as though Jennifer was going to swoop through the window and try to take him away.

“Thanks for helping me.” He said softly.

Lydia had reached over and put her hand on his shoulder. “Of course.” There was a layer of earnestness in her voice that had never been there when they were friends in the popular crowd. He believed this version of Lydia really hadn’t given it a second thought.

 

“So,” Scott said awkwardly much later. Danny was still on the couch, eyes drifting shut on a rerun of HGTV. Derek and Allison were lightly asleep in front of each entrance to the living room, and Stiles was snoring heavily in the corner and talking in his sleep. Really, he was almost more entertaining than the show.

“Whats up?” Danny murmured, half asleep himself.

“You like him right?” Silence. Danny went still in his blanket burrito as if that would stop this line of questioning in it’s tracks. “And,” Scott continued, embarrassed but undeterred, “You know he likes you, right?”

“I think we’re all tired-” Danny began, but Scott shook his head.

“I won’t bother you anymore but, that’s the truth. I just wanted to make sure you knew.”

Danny was quiet for a moment. “How long?” he asked reluctantly. His heart had started to make strange noises in his chest. He hoped werewolves didn’t have super hearing.

“I don’t know. After Lydia, before Derek. Then after Derek. Since like middle school.” Danny’s mind began a play by play of every interaction he’d had with Stiles since sixth grade, rolling every lingering look in slow-mo.

“Shit.” he said.

“Like I said,” Scott scrunched one shoulder. “I just thought you should know. So maybe you can stop hating him.” He smiled softly and went to relieve Derek of guard duty.

Everyone else settled into sleep eventually, but Danny found himself still wide awake as the sun came up. He was starting to see Stilinski in a whole new light.

 

Stiles had never been particularly good with boundaries, but in the next week he seemed to forget their existence at all. He stuck to Danny at school like white on rice, always checking over his shoulder or scouting out an upcoming corner.

Outwardly, Danny made sure to point out that if Jennifer  _ was  _ to pop out of thin air, Stiles wasn’t exactly the man for the job. Inwardly, he felt a little tug of something warm and fuzzy every time Stiles eyed anyone who looked at them too long.

“You don’t think you’re going a little overboard?” He asked on Thursday when Stiles made a freshman cry.

“To be honest, I think I’m going underboard.” Stiles said with an empathetic hand wave. They peeled out of the school parking lot in Stiles jeep, Scott on his motorbike a little ahead of them. This was the after school routine now: head to Derek’s loft, and try to figure out what the hell was going on. “...or maybe not underboard. But just like, way far away from the boards.”

Danny couldn’t help but laugh. The only thing that disturbed him was that lately it felt more  _ with  _ Stiles than  _ at  _ him. And people were noticing.

At the loft, Derek and Scott traded eyebrow waggly smirks every time Stiles and Danny so much as looked at each other. He was sure Allison and Lydia probably had some kind of bet going, if not all of them. And Stiles wasn’t helping. He invited himself into Danny’s personal space at every opportunity, of which there were too many. Whenever he got food or water he grabbed something for Danny without being asked. And dammit, it was always exactly the right thing.

“If you need to talk about any of this, I’ve got you,” he said as a constant reminder. “I’ve been to enough therapy to have my own certification.”

In short, he was everything Danny had never had in the past. The opposite of every one of his exes.

  
And maybe just a little bit of everything he’d always wanted.


	6. Chapter 6

  
“She used that exact word?” Lydia said, yet again seeking clarification. “Psychic?”

“Yes, that word exactly.” Danny confirmed. They were all gathered at Derek’s loft, as usual. The long wood table was at the center of the room covered in maps, books, notes and pens. Derek, Allison, and Scott were poring over maps and Stiles, Danny, and Lydia were working through piles of research.

“So she needs a psychic specifically.” Scott mused.

“Right, but the twins said you weren’t what they’re looking for.” Stiles said. He didn’t look up from the book he was searching through but he pressed his socked toe into Danny’s thigh. Danny didn’t look up either, but felt a steady flow of warmth emitting from where their bodies touched. He couldn’t stop a small smile from creeping onto his face.

“And she said Lydia has the wrong kind of magic, even though she predicts things.” continued Derek.

“We won’t be able to figure out what she wants without more information.” Allison concluded.

“You’re right,” Scott agreed. Even now, he always agreed with Allison.

“What we need to do,” said Lydia “Is figure out what your magic is. Then we’ll be able to work out why she needs you.”

"I don’t have magic.” Danny said flatly. It was the one thing he and the group were at odds about.

“Fine,” Lydia said with a long-suffering eye roll. “Then we figure out what magic she  _ thinks  _ you have.”

_ Is this what she did _ ? Danny winced as Derek’s deep voice boomed through his mind. “Yeah,” he said. “And please never do it again.” Derek ignored him, instead leaning over to scribble something in his notes.

“...ability to receive telepathic messages.” Scott read over his shoulder.

Stiles body went suddenly still. “I can’t read minds, Stiles.” Danny said mildly.

“I know that.” but he didn’t relax. Danny sighed.

“And just because I’m answering questions you haven’t asked yet doesn’t mean I’m lying,” he couldn’t help but laugh at Stiles’ skeptical expression. “It just means you’re predictable.”

Something behind him drew Stiles gaze and left a pink stain on his cheeks. When Danny turned around all he saw was Derek and Scott focused very intently on their maps while Allison and Lydia unsuccessfully hid their smiles.

When he turned back, Stiles was studiously researching psychic abilities.

-

That night when Stiles dropped Danny off he let his Jeep idle in front of the curb. 

"Goodnight." he said softly. 

"Goodnight," Danny answered, but he didn't move. The moment was so still it was as if the air itself was holding it's breath. Danny felt his whole body tense in anticipation, certain that if he leaned in just the _slightest_ bit...

“Well,” he heard himself say, much too loud in the silence. Stiles jumped and accidentally hit the horn, triggering frantic barking from a neighbor’s yard. The light in his parent’s room switched on.

He could feel his face heating up and didn’t have to look to know Stiles was blushing too. “I’ve uh, got, ah-”

“Homework, yeah. Me too.”

“Right. Yeah, so…”

“I’ll see you later.”

“Yep. Later.” Years in Jackson’s clique had taught him remarkable self control so he didn’t throw himself out of the car or collapse on the lawn as Stiles pulled away, but it was a close thing.

-

Things were good, for the time being. Danny hung out with his new/old friends at lunch sometimes even though it made his other friends think he’d lost it. 

He found himself smiling softly at Stiles when he didn’t mean to and only snapping out of it when someone coughed really loud.  They started waiting for each other after class and got in the habit of walking so close their hands brushed. Even Scott rolled his eyes.

He still insisted that he didn’t have powers but helped create a full detailed map of the telluric currents and started training with Allison and Lydia on top of hitting the gym. When he asked why Stiles was the only human who didn’t want to know how to fight Lydia just rolled her eyes and said “He’s got a bat.”

Of course, he knew they were preparing for battle. He knew things couldn’t  _ stay  _ good.

That didn’t mean he was prepared for how bad they could get.

-

It began during another late night at the loft. They had moved on from trying to figure out more fully why Jennifer wanted him since it was like hitting their heads against a brick wall. Ms. Blake was “sick” and had a substitute filling in for her.  So now their focus was on finding her and, ideally, stopping her before she could put even more of whatever her plan was into action.

“If we can just find this damn tree…” said Lydia.

“Maybe she left town, haven’t been able to catch her scent at all,” Derek mused.

“I’m hungry,” Stiles complained. “Sooooo hungry.”

“This would be a lot easier if we knew what Danny’s power was.” Allison said.

“Oh my god,  _ shut up _ !” Danny snapped. Silence. He looked up at five shocked faces with a weary sigh. “It’s hard to concentrate with all of you talking at once.”

“What the hell?” said Scott. Only Scott’s mouth didn't move.

“So,” Stiles said out loud, half triumphant, half worried. “You  _ can  _ read minds.”

-

After that, three things started to happen all at once. 

Number one, Danny could hear more people’s thoughts from farther away with each passing day. Being in public was torture. He felt like he was in a crowded stadium at all times, being assaulted by people shouting over each other in every language and emotion. 

Stiles and Scott took him to Deaton for herbs to dull the barrage of voices, but it only helped so much. Stiles’ strategy for shielding his thoughts was to think out a wall of what sounded like word salad in a blender. It drove Danny to improve his focus just for the ability to tune him out.

Second, Jennifer used his budding new ability to send him fun little thought messages. Things like  _ This is only the beginning  _ and,  _ If you don’t join me I’ll have to take you down too. _

“That’s kind of a compliment if you think about it,” Scott said optimistically. “It means she thinks you make us stronger.”

“Have you gotten a compliment before?" Danny said incredulously "They usually don't involve death threats..”

Third, Jennifer struck again with her sacrifices and this time they were all of Danny’s height, build, and coloring. He woke up that same night in a cold sweat with one last message ringing in his brain’s inbox:  _ If you’re not with me, you’re against me. And You don’t want me for an enemy. _

Despite his well-laid plans and best intentions, he had ended up exactly where he’d never wanted to be: at the center of the tangled Beacon Hills web.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry it's taking so long for me to edit and complete this story!


End file.
